The Upward Way...

Good afternoon dear readers!


It is a lovely day here in Pecan Pastures. The sun is shining brightly in the clear blue sky, and there is a crisp breeze blowing( a very welcome treat after the scorching summer heat we have been having;)! This morning as I was driving home from a short errand, I felt a post coming on. :>) (The term "Feelin' a post coming on" is a joke that my Momma and I have, and it simply means that we have a blog post idea in mind.)

For those of you who have been following Pecan Pastures for a while know that I don't really post about deep or heavy topics. My Momma often laughs and says that my blog is a "happy place." :>)

It's not that I do not enjoy reading blogs where the authors do lengthy discussions on various topics, for I do enjoy reading the writings of others at times. It's just that I do not have a lot of computer time, so my blog posts are predominately on little things I have been doing, pictures of my family, etc.

Today's post is going to be a little different from the others, for I am going to share some things that have been heavy on my heart for a while now.

When my parents started homeschooling me in August of 1997, I was in a town where there were lots of home educating families. Some who like us, were just beginning to home school and others had been home schooling for years. I had lots of little home schooled friends and I never once thought myself any different from any other child for being educated at home by my parents.

I was a very confident out-going little girl and I embraced life to the fullest. My father (who has always worked in the Public School system... funny I know;) enjoyed introducing me to coworkers who felt sure that I would never be able to properly socialize with others due to my parents being so "sheltering". Boy were they surprised when they met me! ;)

From what I can remember, I never received negative comments about my being home schooled or my way of life.

When I was nine, my dad got a job a couple hours north and we had to move. We lost touch somewhat with many of those families I had grown up with. After living there about three years, my dad got a job as an Assistant Superintendent in a county a little over an hour south of my hometown. Because we were close enough to make day trips we went to visit with old friends that we had not seen in a long time. I was invited to a birthday party of a girl that I had been best friends with before we moved. I was so very excited to get to see her and the rest of my friends. When I arrived at her house I was shocked to find how much they had changed. Posters of scantily clad singers were hung all over the wall, the CD player blasted loud music that would have never been allowed before, and the topics they discussed were anything but appropriate for twelve and thirteen year old girls. I was crushed, and I could not wait till my Momma picked me up.

When I shared with my parents what I had heard and seen, my dad told me to pray for my old friends and to keep holding my standards high. They both encouraged me to watch and see where the path those young ladies were choosing to walk on would take them five & ten years from now. Well, dear readers we have not had direct contact with them for many years now but the stories we have been told have been sad ones.

The poem that I posted a couple of weeks ago really reflects the burden of my heart right now, as I am seeing so many families lay aside what they know is right and seek their own way.

It is as though they struggled so hard to be as different and separated from the world as they possibly could be, and now they have completely forsaken all their "standards" and have embraced the world's way of doing things. There seems to be two extremes among Christians. One group is so concerned with being different from the world that they have become engulfed in legalism, while the other group seems no different from the world. When you go into the average church today, you may as well be walking the mall for the things that you see and hear.

In my pursuit of trying to lead a Christ honoring life, I have often struggled with finding a balance. I worried about what people thought of me and of what they said about me. Did they think my standards were too high? Did they think them too low? I became so concerned with trying to please man that I missed out on the freedom of resting in God's grace. I have learned that I cannot live my life trying to please every person I come in contact with. Every conviction I hold and standard I set for myself should be done out of my love for Christ, not so I might impress others or make them approve of me. When we do things for any other reason but to bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ we are living in the bondage of legalism.

My daddy once told me, "Reputation is what man thinks about you, but Character is what God thinks about you."

I am far from perfect and I will not reach perfection in this world, but I do hope that when I stumble and fall that I pick myself up and keep running towards the "prize" which is set before me.

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

May God get the Glory!


McKenzie Elizabeth